1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods for symbolically representing prescriptions on containers for the blind, illiterate or those having poor vision.
2. Prior Art
The common practice of physicians administering drugs, pills or other tablets is to prescribe such medication from a pharmacy. The pharmacy then packages the medication within a container and labels the container indicating the dosage and particular times at which the dosage is to be taken. The most common type of labeling is for the pharmacist to type specific instructions on a gummed label which is applied to the container. Such labels are inherently defective for even a normal person, in that smearing of the lettering or tearing of the label may cause the patient to be mistaken regarding the particular dosage and time of administration. This is critical since all drugs are potentially dangerous when improperly administered.
This problem is more difficult for certain handicapped persons since they have to not only memorize the prescription, but associate it with the proper container.
The unsupervised administration of prescriptions is extremely difficult for blind people or people having poor sight or being illiterate or speaking a foreign language. Under these conditions, the patient may misread or be unable to read at all, the particular prescription. The druggist may inform the particular patient of the dosage and time and time increment for administration, but then it is up to the patient to remember the prescription and associate it with the particular container. Many blind people use techniques such as placing rubber bands around bottles, or placing them in different locations. If a patient has more than one medication to take, and such is often the case, the person with the particular handicap such as being blind, has a tremendous problem confronting himself first to memorize the prescription and then to associate it with the proper container.
There are no prior art implements known to applicant, which specifically address the problem of symbolically attempting to inform a patient of the dosage and of the frequency of a medication. There are several devices which have been previously patented which by various means, attempt to aid a person in remembering when the last dosage was taken. One such example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,464, issued to Harold D. North. That Patent describes a specific container having a top and bottom portion which are capable of being fitted together so as to remain in a fixed position. This is accomplished by fluting the cap and container, such that when the cap is pushed into the body, it will remain in that fixed position. The cap or body is marked with indicia describing a particular dosage period, such as a 24 hour period. The body has inscribed thereon, an arrow with the inscription "last taken". The user can then dispose the arrow so as to align with indicia representing the time the last dosage was taken. Thus, a patient may utilize a container to remind him of when the last dosage was taken. This invention, however, does not accomplish or aid the blind person or illiterate person in determining; First, the particular medication; Second, the dosage; or Third, the time to administer the dosage. That patent does describe impressing the cap and body with relief numbers and indicia at least, to the extent of inscribing the cyclic period and arrow indicating the last time a dosage was taken. The problem is that it does not, and cannot, represent the dosage requirements. In the case of a handicapped person, blind, it is very difficult to reset the indicator after each use. Furthermore, the Patent does not teach use of symbolically representing dosage and frequency requirements.
Another series of Patents have been obtained on particular containers which have structure capable of being maintained in several positions for use with prescriptions where a predetermined number of pills is taken in each cycle. In operation, the container has several interior compartments into which a pill or pills is placed, an opening in the container may be displaced selectively from one compartment to the other for mechanically insuring proper administration. A typical example is that container used for the pill for preventing pregnancy. That container is set up on a specific twenty-one daytime cycle and can be rotated from one position to the next. Each day, a user rotates the container to take the prescription for that day. Another example of such a container is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,179, issued to Samuel Bender. That container like the North patent, has indicia for indicating when the next dosage is to be administered. The Patent further requires two separate compartments within the container, one of which will contain the next dosage to be taken. Thus, a user, after taking the dosage, can put the new dosage from the main compartment into the secondary compartment, thereby readying the container for the next dosage. The medication is placed into the secondary compartment based on the known dosage just administered.
No prior art device exists which symbolically attempts to indicate to a patient the dosage, and the time cycle for which the dosage should be taken. There are no prescription containers presently available to a blind person, to an illiterate person or to a person who does not speak English, which is usable. To date, symbolic representations have been by gummed labels which are typed onto the bottle or container.
The present invention provides a structure which can be formed as part of any standard presciption container or can be attached to any standard container, that symbolically represents to a user, the particular dosage and times for each dosage to be taken. The particular invented structure protects the blind, illiterate, or non-English speaking person from the numerous problems inherent in typewritten, gum labeled messages.